Learn More: eVisa on Arrival

Since 2012 visitors to Sao Tome and Principe may also apply online for an e-Visa on Arrival using eVisaST website. An e-Visa can be obtained easily anywhere with an internet connection and it grants the same right to enter Sao Tome and Principe territory as ordinary sticker-visa in the passport. The response has been overwhelming and many travelers have already used this service.

Sao Tome is officially called Sao Tome and Principe, and it is a small island nation off the coast of Central Africa. Its economy relies on cacao production, but this has declined due to drought and mismanagement. However, if you are looking to keep yourself busy, you can visit some of its attractions. On the one hand, its lush rain forests are spectacular, and the way old plantations recovered is beautiful. Furthermore, the Obo National Park is a true tropical paradise. At the same time, let's not forget that Sao Tome is surrounded by water, which means that there are pristine beaches and crystal clear waters everywhere. Therefore, it is perfect for diving.

Required Documents to Apply

Passport Personal Details Scan

Important Instructions

The validity of your visa and maximum length of stay is 30 days Per Entry.

Your travel document has to be valid passport for a minimum of one year.

It is highly recommended that visa applications be lodged at least 5 business days before your trip.

You need to show the Visa Approval letter TWICE: To the airlines in your country when you check in and to the Immigration officer at the Sao Tome airport upon arrival to get the visa stamped onto your passport. You are then required to fill out the entry and exit form, and pay the visa stamping fee to directly the Immigration officer.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Sao Tome & Principe Tourist eVisa is the official travel document needed by foreigners wishing to enter the Republic of Sao Tome & Principe with the purpose of turism, that includes holidays, recreation and seeing family and/or friends.

NO, we can not change or modify any details on the e-Visa once it's issued. If you do, however, realize you made a mistake before your visa has been issued, then please contact us ASAP via online chat or by sending an email to help@ivisa.com.

You need to show the Visa Approval letter TWICE: To the airlines in your country when you check in and to the Immigration officer at the Sao Tome airport upon arrival to get the visa stamped onto your passport. You are then required to fill out the entry and exit form, and pay the visa stamping fee (see the visa stamping fee) to directly the Immigration officer.

NO, you cannot. In order to board the plane you must show the visa approval letter to the airlines. This letter is also compulsory in order for you to get the visa at the Sao Tome and Principe airport. Therefore, we recommend that you leave plenty of time to apply for the visa to avoid having to delay or change your flight.

Sao Tome and Principe is an island nation off the Western Coast of Africa. Most people, after taking a quick look at this pair of islands on a map, would be forgiven for assuming that there wouldn’t be many exciting activities or beautiful landscapes to appreciate in this relatively small country. Yet, Africa’s second-smallest nation, and the smallest Portuguese speaking on Earth, Sao Tome and Principe has so much to offer. For tourists who are looking to get into landscapes, beaches, nature, and relaxed, friendly people, Sao Tome and Principe offers all of that, plus a whole lot more.
Sao Tome and Principe is sometime referred to as “the Centre of the World” due to the fact that these islands lie exactly where the Equator crosses the zero-meridian line.
Sao Tome and Principe consists of two archipelagos around the two main islands of Sao Tome and Principe. The two main islands lie approximately 140 km apart from one another and the country is about 250 km off the northwestern coast of Gabon, in the Gulf of Guinea. Principe is the older of the two islands, at approximately 31 million years old. Sao Tome is about half as old. Together they form part of a chain of volcanoes known as the Cameroon Line.
The current inhabitants of Sao Tome and Principe are predominantly of African and mestizo descent. The main religion in the country is Catholicism, with the most important dates on the country’s calendar belonging to this religion’s festivities. Sao Tome and Principe has been an independent nation since 1975, but the legacy of Portuguese rule can still be seen in the country's culture, customs, and music. The combination with African cultures, which originally arrived on the islands to work the plantations of the Portuguese, has created a uniquely local culture.
Decades ago, Sao Tome and Principe used to be commonly known as the “Chocolate Islands” thanks to its many cocoa plantations and the chocolate products that were produced from said Cocoa. Some historians stated that it was one of the best quality chocolates in the world. Unfortunately, due to economic challenges in the 1980’s and 1990’s the country’s cocoa industry collapsed, and today there are only a few plantations that survived, all of which are privatized.
Of the two main islands, Sao Tome is more developed, while Principe is more remote and mysterious. Principe also has better beaches, according to those who have been to both islands. When visiting the country, most visitors start their holiday with a couple of days on Sao Tome before heading over to Principe to enjoy the secluded wilderness and beaches. There is plenty of wilderness to enjoy in this island paradise, as 90% of the country is forested, with 40% being officially protected.
Sao Tome is famous for being home to the highest concentration of endemic bird species in the world. Bird watchers love coming to the islands to spot rare species that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. The islands are also home to more than 700 plant species, and more are being discovered every year. This abundance has led Sao Tome and Principe to often be compared to the Galapagos Islands, or referred to as the Galapagos of the Atlantic. Even in the surrounding waters there are many endemic species of fish, sea turtles, dolphins and whales.
The climate in Sao Tome and Principe is tropical, with temperatures remaining between about 27 and 29 degrees Celsius throughout the year. There are two dry seasons, running from June to September, and from December to April. The rainy seasons go from March to May and from October to November.
The beaches on Sao Tome and Principe are stunning, and perhaps most importantly, there is usually hardly anyone else around! You may stumble across a local fisherman, but you won’t feel the need to be up at the crack of dawn to claim a sun lounger.
Depending on when you visit, you may get to see turtles coming up onto the beaches to lay their eggs or the baby turtles hatching and making a dash for the safety of the sea. Sao Tome and Principe is home to Olive Ridley, Green, Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles, all four species being listed as endangered.

One of the best things to do on Sao Tome and Principe is beach hopping by boat, stopping for snorkelling and picnics along the way. You might recognise Banana Beach on Príncipe from the famous Bacardi advert back in the 1990s. It’s one of the the most iconic and photogenic!
Make sure you spend some time in the capital of the island, Sao Tome town, which was founded in 1485 by the Portuguese and granted city status by the king in 1535. With Portuguese colonial architecture, cathedral, Presidential Palace and a 16th century fort just for starters, you can easily spend a day exploring here.

An e-Visa is an official document permitting entry into and travel within a certain country. The e-Visa is an alternative to visas issued at the ports of entry or visiting an embassy/consulate to obtain traditional paper visas.
e-Visas are linked electronically to the traveler's passport.

Our service starts with information. You can use our up-to-date visa requirements tool to search if you need a travel visa. It's as simple as telling us where you are from and where you are going. Based on this information we will tell you how much the visa costs, the number of entries, the start date and give you an action step such as applying directly on our site!

The best place to find this information is our visa requirement tool. Each country has different entry rules and visa fees. If you are in a rush you can also apply online and the form will give you this information as well.

It depends on the country issuing the visa. For many countries such as Australia ETA and Turkey e-Visa, the process can be done in 15 minutes through our rush service. For other countries such as the India tourist Visa, the process usually takes 24 hours. The exact time can be found on each application form. What we guarantee is that your application with iVisa will be the fastest way to apply anywhere.

We help you get your travel visa in the simplest and fastest way possible. Through easy-to-use online application forms and world-class 24/7 customer service, we make the whole visa process quick and simple! We also use best practices when it comes to protecting your data and credit card.

Please note most countries offer the ability to process a travel visa without a service fee. The main reason we process thousands of travel visas per month is we save you time and frustration. Our service includes an easy to use website and application form. It is much easier to process your application with us especially for mobile users and large groups. We send all of our clients the visa days before travel. This is especially helpful for those passengers who purchase the visa months in advance. We also have a 24-hour customer service with professionals that are based in the United States and speak English. We accept multi-currencies and our website can be translated into over 20 languages. We believe our fee is worth your time and sanity but please note all governments do have their own "free" service.

If you have already applied on our site, please log in to your account and look for your order/application. An account is generated for you automatically after payment is received. Click the link in your confirmation email to set up a password or visit the log in page to set up the password and enter the account. Please note in most cases your visa will be delivered to you via email and can be found in your account after logging in.

This is a rare scenario. However, if your application gets rejected, we will issue you a full refund for the government fee and the processing fee under our 100% approval guarantee. This refund will be given via credit to be used for a future order.
If you need further assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Our customer service specialists will be more than glad to help you.

If we have not processed your visa, we can make changes without a problem. We do check your information for mistakes as well. If you have already processed your visa, If we have submitted your application to the appropriate government agencies, some will allow to make changes, while others do not. Please contact us immediately (preferably through chat) if you notice an error on your application.

Some countries may require proof of yellow fever vaccination if you are arriving from a country with risk of yellow fever. You can see more info here: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
It's the passenger´s own responsibility to verify these regulations before traveling to the chosen country.

We know that our applicants can come across unexpected changes in their travel plans that may prevent them from traveling and therefore getting their visa. This is why we understand you may want to request a cancellation of your visa application and a credit for the amount paid. However, we will only approve the refund/credit if it follows our Refund policy guideline:

If your application has not been reviewed by our team, nor submitted to the government for approval, then you will receive a credit for the full amount of the iVisa processing fee and government fee(visa cost).

If your application has been reviewed by our team but has not yet been submitted to the government for approval, you will receive a credit for the full amount of the government fee (visa cost).

If your application has been submitted to the government for approval or a visa is already issued, unfortunately, no credit is available.

Our policy also applies to these circumstances:

If we make a mistake on your application, a 100% refund of the iVisa processing fee will be issued and we will process your visa again at no cost.

If you purchase rush or super rush processing additional fee and we do not deliver the travel document within the agreed timeframe, you will receive a credit for the iVisa rush or super rush processing fee.

If you miss your trip because iVisa does not deliver the travel document within the agreed timeframe, you will receive a full cash refund for the government fee and iVisa processing fee.

The exception to the clause above is if the government is the cause of the delay or your arrival date was sooner than our super rush processing time. In such case, you will receive a credit for the iVisa processing fee.

If for any reason, you are not satisfied with our services, please feel free to contact us. Under reasonable circumstances, we will grant a credit of the iVisa processing fee to be used for a future order.

When the visa has to be shipped to you, the processing times do not include this shipping time. It is from when we receive your application to obtaining the approval.
Most visas (e-Visas) are sent via email upon approval so shipping times will not apply.

All citizens from these territories applying through our website will have their application processed with the nationality/citizenship specified in their passport. As an example, a traveler from Puerto Rico will have their request processed as USA nationality. This does not apply to the travelers under the BOTC (British Overseas Territories Citizen) category according to the British Overseas Territories Act of 2002.